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CC - (1) Approval of a Professional Services Agreement with Clever Devices LLC. to Design, Furnish, Install, Test, Train Implement and Provide Support and Warranty for the Culver City Intelligent Transportation System in an Amount Not-To-Exceed $4,398,205, which Includes a 10% Contingency Value; (2) Approve the Relocation of 35 Bus Stops from Nearside to Farside Locations, as well as Conflicting Parking Meters from Farside to Nearside Locations; and (3) Award a Construction Contract to James Oh Construction in an Amount Not-To-Exceed $75,000, for the Removal and Relocation of 35 Bus Stops from Nearside to Farside, Including Bus Stop Furniture, and Associated Parking Meters.
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Meeting Date: 08/22/16
Contact Person/Dept: Art Ida/Transportation
Phone Number: (310) 253-6500
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [] Attachments: []
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X]
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (08/16/16)
Department Approval: Art Ida (08/11/16)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council (1) approve a professional services agreement with Clever Devices LLC. to design, furnish, install, test, train implement and provide support and warranty for the Culver City Intelligent Transportation System in an amount not to exceed $4,398,205, which includes a 10% contingency value (the project includes the replacement of the current SmartBus system, a new Real-Time Bus Arrival system, and a new Bus Signal Priority onboard system); (2) approve the relocation of the 35 identified bus stops from nearside to farside, as well as the conflicting parking meters from farside to nearside; and (3) award a construction contract to James Oh Construction in an amount not to exceed $75,000, for the removal and relocation of 35 bus stops from nearside to farside, including bus stop furniture, and associated parking meters.
BACKGROUND
The Transportation Department currently has a SmartBus system in place. The SmartBus system is a real-time management system consisting of functions such as computer aided dispatch (CAD), GPS-based Automated Vehicle Location (AVL), Automated Passenger Counting (APC), Automated Vehicle Annunciation (AVN), and radio communication integration. This system is over 10 years old and has been experiencing recurring issues which affect the reliability of the system. In bringing on-board the Real-Time Bus Arrival and Bus Signal Priority Systems (BSP), staff has determined it necessary to replace the old SmartBus system. Additionally, the BSP requires that 35 identified bus stops be relocated from nearside (on approach to an intersection) to farside (past an intersection).
DISCUSSION
On December 14, 2015, the City Council authorized the issuance of a Request for Proposals for procurement of equipment to replace Culver CityBus aging SmartBus System and a new Real-Time Bus Arrival system, and a new Bus Signal Priority system. Prior to release of RFP No. 1586, a professional services agreement with EIGER TechSystems was authorized by the City Council on June 9, 2014, to provide technical assistance with development of the scope of work and other project elements. A mandatory pre-proposal conference and site visit was subsequently held on February 10, 2016 at which time prospective proposers were allowed to ask project related questions and visually inspect the facilities and vehicles to evaluate feasible installation locations of the needed equipment. Transportation staff received comprehensive proposals on April 7, 2016 from Avail Technologies, Inc., Clever Devices Ltd, Xerox Transport Solutions, Inc, and Synchromatics. Each firm’s proposal was evaluated for responsiveness and financial capacity by members of Transportation’s ITS Evaluation team, which included representatives from the Transportation Department, the IT Department and the Fire Department. Each technical proposal was evaluated based on the criteria and weighting below.
1. Technical Capabilities (Roughly 50%)
2. Management Approach (Roughly 25%)
3. Price (Roughly 25%)
After the initial evaluation of each firm’s written proposals and pricing, two firms - Avail Technologies, Inc. and Clever Devices Ltd. - were determined to be in the competitive range. Each of these firms was then interviewed by the evaluation team and the proposers were given scenarios to demonstrate their technology. Transportation’s ITS Evaluation Team interviewed each firm’s current clients and gathered references for each firm. The Evaluation Team also visited transit agencies where the proposed equipment was being utilized to observe first-hand each vendor’s proposed solution and discuss the effectiveness of those solutions with transit agency staff. In addition, the team did thorough reference checks by calling multiple clients of each proposer to verify system quality and customer experience. Best and Final Offers (BAFOs) and responses to follow-up questions were then requested of the vendors to complete the evaluation process and determine the highest ranked proposer. The Evaluation Team scored the proposals in accordance with the criteria and weights in the RFP, giving Clever Devices Ltd. the highest score.
Clever Devices has been selected based on the level of satisfaction with the proposed hardware and software, the successful implementation of Clever Devices technology and systems at other transit properties, and cost. The Clever Devices system has been successfully deployed by many bus ITS systems across the US and Canada, including Central Florida Regional Transit Authority, Torrance Transit, Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, Central New York Regional Transit Authority, New Jersey Transit, Chicago Transit Authority, Miami-Dade Transit and several other transit properties. The CAD/ AVL system will utilize global positioning satellite technology to monitor the performance of our services and will be used to dynamically correct operational issues in real time, as well as capture and store historical data for future service improvements. The Clever Devices solution will consist of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Automatic Passenger Counters (APC), Automatic Voice Annunciation (AVA), Vehicle Health Monitoring (VHM), integrated Real-time Passenger information, and Bus Signal Priority (BSP). Implementation of the CAD/AVL system will provide significantly improved accuracy of the information available to staff and customers, and will result in safety, operational, and efficiency improvements for Culver CityBus.
Recommendation to Relocate 35 Bus Stops
The BSP will improve the efficiency of bus service by providing traffic signal priority to buses at signalized intersections along their routes in Culver City, that is, by extending the green time by a few seconds, when a Culver City bus is running behind schedule, in order to catch up or to keep to the schedule. As part of the BSP Project, 35 existing nearside bus stops are recommended to be relocated to the farside of the intersection. This relocation is necessitated to maximize the effectiveness of the BSP System.
The relocation of the bus stop away from nearside will provide the opportunity to regain some parking spaces, in most instances, at the abandoned bus stop site, and will also cause the loss of some parking spaces at the new farside.
The 35 bus stops identified for relocation are located along the following streets: 1) Washington Boulevard, 2) Culver Boulevard, 3) Sepulveda Boulevard, 4) Jefferson Boulevard, 5) Overland Avenue, 6) Braddock Drive, 7) Hannum Avenue, 8) Playa Street, and 9) Bristol Parkway.
Public Outreach
In order to notify the public, provide information, answer their questions, and obtain their input regarding the relocation of the 35 bus stops, three community meetings were held on Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 10 am, 1 pm, and 4 pm, in the Dan Patacchia Conference Room. A courtesy notice was published in the Culver City News, posters were displayed in the City’s buses, and targeted notices were mailed to all residents, businesses, and property owners of property adjacent to existing or proposed bus stops. The community meetings were “Open House” style - interested persons were able to arrive at any time during the scheduled meeting time. Additionally, input was invited by e-mail and by phone.
The community meetings were not well attended: four people attended at 10 am; one person at 1 pm, and nobody attended the 4 pm meeting. Staff received seven e-mails and three phone calls. Of those who called and e-mailed, five requested additional information, three opposed the relocation (two property owners and one bus patron), and one bus patron supported the relocation. Of these who attended the meetings, two opposed the relocation (two property owners who previously called and emailed), three supported it. The property owners who opposed the relocation were concerned for the loss of parking at the farside location.
Impacts to Public Street Parking
The relocation of the bus stops to the farside will cause the elimination of some metered parking spaces on the farside. However, some of these parking spaces lost to farside bus stops can be re-gained at the nearside, abandoned bus stops. Overall, the 35 farside bus stops will result in a loss of 80 to 88 metered parking spaces, and the recovery of 56 metered parking spaces at the abandoned nearside bus stops, with a citywide net loss of 24 to 32 metered parking spaces.
Benefits of Farside Bus Stops
The benefit of farside bus stops, coupled with the BSP System, is that the BSP System will recognize that a bus is behind schedule, and will extend the green traffic signal by a few additional seconds (only if needed), so that the bus can cross the intersection, and avoid a further delay to the bus schedule. This treatment recognizes that there are local and regional benefits to a single bus transporting a large number of people, to the time efficiency of bus schedules, and that preferential treatment to such buses is in line with local and regional transportation goals. This operational efficiency also contributes a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the buses as well as from bus customers who may otherwise elect to drive if delays are the prevalent or the norm. Additionally, after crossing the intersection on a few seconds of extended green time, farside bus stops allow the bus to board/alight passengers, without risking being stopped behind a red traffic signal, and thereby further delaying the schedule.
Farside bus stops, in addition to maximizing the effectiveness of the BSP system, and the reduction of bus delays/increase in travel-time efficiency, the relocation of the bus stops to the farside will also improve the efficiency of the right-turn movements at the abandoned nearside bus stop, for all vehicles; it will also result in the elimination in conflicts between right-turning private vehicles and buses, as well as the elimination of sight-distance limitations. Overall, this will result in an increase in effectiveness, efficiency, and safety.
Removal and Relocation Work
If the City Council approves the relocation of the 35 bus stops, the work required is proposed to be done by a contractor, who will remove the abandoned nearside bus stop sign and posts, and bus stop furniture, such as shelters, benches, trash cans, tube maps, and the associated red curb, (thereby making room for new metered parking spaces). The removed bus stop furniture would be reinstalled at the farside location.
Additionally, at the abandoned nearside bus stop locations, to create new metered parking spaces, the contractor would remove the red curb associated with the abandoned bus stop, install new parking meter posts, stripe new parking tees, and repair the sidewalk where the bus stop furniture was removed.
For FY 2016/2017, Public Works requested and received $75,000 funding in PZ-949, New Parking Meter capital improvement project, to accomplish this work. The available grant funds for the intelligent transportation system project are insufficient for the grants to pay for this work.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Intelligent Transportation System Project
Funding in the amount of $4,930,657 has been identified for the comprehensive Intelligent Transportation Systems project, including the previously authorized Professional Services Agreement with EIGER TechSystems. Metro Call for Projects grant awards totaling $3,664,955 for the BSP and Real-time Information Systems elements were appropriated in Transportation capital account 20370300.732120 in the FY14-15 budget, were carried over into FY15-16, and the remaining balance will be carried over into the current year for expenditure in FY17. Local match funds are identified from State of California Prop 1B PTMISEA capital project allocations in the amount of $1,265,702 which were appropriated in the Transportation Department FY16 budget and will be carried forward into FY17. No general funds are being used for this project.
Removal and Relocation Project
A cost estimate was obtained from James Oh Construction, the contractor who has performed all of the City’s parking meter post removals, relocations, and installations over the last three years, to accomplish the removal of parking meters, the provision of new parking meter posts and their installation, as well as the removal and installation of bus stop furniture indicated previously. James Oh Construction received the initial contract on a competitive bid. Subsequent work (as part of the ongoing parking meter installations), over the last two years has been exempt from formal bidding, as authorized by the Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC), as discussed further below.
The cost estimate received from the contractor is $78,950. However, by not including in the scope of work the removal and relocation of one bus shelter that is over-sized and custom-built, located at the northeast corner of Washington Boulevard/La Cienega Avenue, a savings of $6,000 can be realized, reducing the cost of the work to $72,950. Staff recommends that James Oh Construction be awarded a contract for the work for an amount not-to-exceed $72,950.
CCMC Section 3.07.045.B provides that the requirement for formal competitive bidding does not apply when the equipment: …“Is a component for equipment or a system of equipment previously acquired by the City, and is necessary to repair, maintain or improve the City’s utilization of the equipment.”
There is sufficient funding available in the City Council Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2016/2017 as part of Project PZ-949 New Parking Meter for the removals and installations necessary to relocate 35 bus stops and conflicting parking meters.
ATTACHMENTS
None
MOTION
That the City Council:
1. Authorize the Transportation Director to negotiate final contract terms with Clever Devices, Ltd. to design, furnish, install, test, train and provide support for the Culver City Intelligent Transportation System in an amount not to exceed $4,398,205 which includes a 10% contingency value; and
2. Approve the relocation of the 35 identified bus stops from nearside to farside, as well as the conflicting parking meters from farside to nearside; and
3. Award a contract to James Oh Construction to provide new material and services to remove 35 nearside bus stops and relocate them to farside, and remove conflicting parking meters from farside locations and install new parking meters at the abandoned nearside bus stops, in an amount not to exceed $72,950, plus $2,050 change order authority, for a total not-to-exceed amount of $75,000; and
4. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and
5. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.